This is Israel’s third major offensive against Hamas since 2008, including Operation Cast Lead between Dec. 27, 2008 and Jan. 18, 2009 and Operation Pillar of Defense between Nov. 14 and 21, 2012.

About 3,500 homes in the Gaza Strip were completely destroyed during Operation Cast Lead, which also involved an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) ground incursion in the Gaza Strip.

The UN estimated at least 6,268 homes were destroyed or severely damaged and the Gaza Strip incurred about $2 billion in losses, including those to businesses, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development in 2009 put the estimated total losses at $4 billion and said the living conditions in Gaza. following Operation Cast Lead and the first two years of the Israeli blockade, were “at their worst since 1967.”

Images from the town of Shejaiya, where one of the deadliest assaults happened on July 20, show neighbourhoods in utter ruin

A picture taken on July 26, 2014 shows the rubble of destroyed buildings and homes in the Shejaiya residential district of Gaza City, as families returned to find their homes ground into rubble by relentless Israeli tank fire and air strikes.

Mahmoud Hams (AFP)/Getty Images

A Palestinian man, wrapped in his national flag, inspects the rubble of destroyed buildings and houses in the Shejaiya residential district of Gaza City, on July 28, 2014